Live feed of bank account?

rb10

I can log into Nationwide's mobile app comfortably inside 30 seconds ... you must have that much time spare each day? Even when sitting on the toilet or bus!

ViolaLass

RockerC wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I thought I may get a comment about why not write it down. And now I will explain.

I make a lot of "small" purchases, which at times do not clear my account the same day or even week. I also have items which are debited because of subscriptions due to being a student and it being cheaper that way, and trying to keep track of all that is way too time consuming and messy for me as they are often unpredictable really, especially when youre waiting on stuff clearing your account once you pay for it. For some reason if I make an online purchase somewhere it can take a few days or even up to a week at times before something clears my account, and my bank doesnt even know I have spent that money until its cleared at times!

Crazy.. anyway thanks for the suggestions. I think I may just change banks because HSBC with that login calculator thing is a pain in the neck.

Cee

Why would you wait for the money to leave your account? If you wrote it down when you spent it, you would know it was 'gone'.

I'm not really convinced that logging in once a day is that arduous.

redcard

Here's a solution: Stop buying cheap tat off ebay. Not only will it save you money, you also won't need to spend much time tracking your spending.

RockerC

Some of the replies here are amusing, but thanks anyway. Few great replies which I am happy to accept as the answer to my problem. I had spoken to my bank about managing my money better, the only solution they ever gave was to go into a branch to have them talk me through my spending in a review style session. To get to the bank from my campus (which will remain anonymous) costs me around £20 which is a fair bit of money just for some advice really.

I buy in small purchases because that is the only way to buy the supplies I need for my course without having to buy in bulk or from overpriced retail shops usually.. thats the reason. I do try to be thrifty with my money as much as possible but there's always bills which need to be paid and lots of things to concentrate upon at the same time. This may be because I have autism and cannot concentrate upon multiple things at the same time.

I have enough trouble as it is without adding to my problems and all I wanted was a way to easily access my bank account minus the hassle of carrying around a dumb calculator login thing, which as someone replied up above in the thread is not needed (which I didnt know until they told me - not even my bank told me) so, now that I have access to my account more easily and on the go, I no longer have to be tied down to one location etc which is good for me as I am always having to play catch up.

Mobile login was ALL I was after. I have tried to keep tabs on my spending by excel documents etc, but they always end up going to pot because they are not flexible enough (for me - in my circumstances). I literally sleep straight after class due to being so tired, work all through the night, go to classes and then sleep again. Online purchases are convenient and also cheaper in many situations for me. I dont go out much.. because I have autism.

I find money to be very difficult a concept to understand and the value of it even less really. I guess my best bet is to have my partner handle my finances and tell me what to spend and if its fine or not as shes much better at it than I am.

Sorry if I have offended anyone, I am not great with communicating and thanks for the help. I think that a few of the responses were slightly patronising or thinking I was lazy.. I dont know. I just want to say thanks for the help and if you would like me to leave the forum I will clear my account now.

cee

Yorkie1

Oh don't leave the forum - you always get a mixture of responses on here!

Glad you've found the solution with the mobile app and it will get easier with practice. Good luck!

brendon

RockerC wrote: »

I had spoken to my bank about managing my money better, the only solution they ever gave was to go into a branch to have them talk me through my spending in a review style session. To get to the bank from my campus (which will remain anonymous) costs me around £20 which is a fair bit of money just for some advice really.

You shouldn't rely on your bank for advice. They are not there to help you with your money, they are there to sell you things. Your university should have a service to provide financial advice and support, if you need it.

It might be a good idea to work out how much money you have coming in each term. Take away a little bit of emergency money in case you need it. Then divide what's left by the number of weeks in the term. That'd be your weekly budget. Then make sure you don't spend over that amount each week.

The way I used to do it was this:

• Have one account which your money goes into
• Have a second account which you only spend money from
• Start off with £100 in the second account (unless you have interest free overdraft)
• Set up a standing order from the first account to the second account for your budget (say £70) for every Monday, say.

Then, if your balance in the second account is below £100, you cannot spend any more money that week. If it's above £100, you can spend more.

Archi_Bald

RockerC, you are making a couple of basic, though not uncommon, mistakes.

You assume your bank balance would always reflect how much money you have available to spend. But this is not so. Anything you spend on your card will only be reflected on your bank account once the Retailer tells your bank. This does not always happen instantly, and this can be particularly so for small amounts.

Also, you might have payments (SOs, DDs, CPAs) coming out over night. Your bank balance the evening before will have absolutely zero indication that the money is needed in a few hours. Even if you currently do not have any such payments, you will one day definitely have some - so you might as well get yourself into a mode that will be able to accommodate them.

The fact is that you are the only person that knows exactly what you have spent, and what you will need in the next few days. Your live bank balance will not be reliable for this purpose, you must manage this yourself. You can use pen and paper, a spreadsheet, an app, your memory - - -just about anything apart from relying on your latest bank balance.

System

I use an app called PocketMoney from Catamount software. It is available as an app for a mobile device and a desktop app for Windows and Mac. You can setup recurring payments such as direct debits/standing orders - even though mine come out all through the month, in the app I set them up to debit on 1st of the month. I then know that I have £x to play with for the rest of the month. I regularly log on to online banking and tick a box to clear anything showing in my online account. The cleared balance matches what the bank say I have, the uncleared balance tells me how much money I actually have to spend.

It is Pocket Money which informs me, not the bank. Every time I use my account I enter the debit/credit into Pocket Money.

I started using this sort of app many years ago when my finances were not good and I had no credit available. It was important that I always had funds available for petrol to get to work and food. If I didn't there was literally nothing I could do about it.

pmduk

I do feel you should consider giving your budget a slightly higher priority. Mess it up an your studies will suffer as you'll probably worry about them.

FOREVER21

Well I am currently a student and have a horrible shortage of time during the week due to the volume of studying. Quote RockerC




This must be a scam!!